Party at the Club
by Flashes09
Summary: Benny Bernardino has a great life as a crime lord and club owner, which happens to make him the perfect target for two crafty transgenics... Max/Alec partnership and slight Max/Alec undertones


Title: Party at the Club

Author: Flashes09

Rating: T (language use and some suggestive language)

Summary: Benny Bernardino has a great life as a crime lord and club owner, which happens to make him the perfect target for two crafty transgenics... Max/Alec partnership (and slight Max/Alec undertones)

A/N: After a long hiatus (also known as college), I'm back with a Dark Angel fic!

Disclaimer: I do not own "Dark Angel" or anything associated with it.

* * *

**Party at the Club**

Benny Bernardino considered himself one lucky son of a bitch. After the Pulse, times were tough for awhile, but if you were a decent guy willing to go dark side, then post-Pulse Seattle was a great place to be. Theft, murder, and corruption were everywhere. And if you had wits and guts, you could do well.

Benny knew he had both wits and guts, and he employed both frequently, but he also knew luck was on his side. How else would he have managed some of the deals he had made over the past few years? With all three, he had managed to become a middle level crime boss, a position he was proud of and flaunted often. His favorite businesses included prostitution and underground gambling mixed with selling drugs, but he also dabbled occasionally in gun-running and money-laundering, whenever the opportunity arose.

But Benny was also paranoid, and that paranoia was what kept him going. It kept all his safes locked, his papers hidden, and his security vigilant all the time. It was the paranoia that had him keeping his own books, as he was unwilling to part with his money and he didn't trust some other guy not to do a little cooking. The paranoia kept him from physically tying his name to anyone or anything and he was convinced it would serve him well in future business deals.

At this current moment though, Benny was taking a break from the work he had been doing this morning and was relaxing at his favorite place in all of Seattle, a little club he owned and called Smack. He loved to sit up in the balcony and watch all the people down below.

Most of the clubs patrons were looking for an escape from their pathetic lives, even if only for a few hours. He watched couples grind on the dance floor, imbibe large amounts of alcohol, and even partake in some illegal substances from the clubs back rooms, and it warmed Benny's little black heart to know that he made it all possible.

Benny leaned back in his chair, content with himself, and took a swig of beer.

* * *

Outside though, things were a little different. As Benny's wealth and influence grew, so did the desire to get into his club, and the line to get in stretched down the block. The bouncer who was working tonight loved his job. Being allowed to tell people that they were or were not allowed in the club made him feel a little like God, and he reveled in the power. People constantly offered money and favors to get into the club, and some would do anything for entrance. But the bouncer turned most of the favors down and turned almost all of the people away. Benny only wanted VIPs and good-looking people in his club.

The bouncer also prided himself in his ability to see trouble coming, and who would and wouldn't cause fights or disruptions. And tonight, the bouncer saw trouble walking down the street.

Warily, the bouncer watched the couple approach. They didn't seem hurried, but they walked with purpose, and they didn't bother standing in the line. He wasn't entirely sure why this particular couple deserved his attention, but something about them screamed power.

Cats, that's what they reminded him of, big jungle cats, like the ones he saw in the pre-Pulse zoo, filled with silent and deadly grace. But no, they were just people, just like all the others in the line.

But they also seemed a little too perfect. Despite the chill in the air, the woman wore a short red dress that hugged every curve and covered little, inviting you to check out the rest. Every inch of skin that was exposed was the same rich caramel color and her dark hair was in tight curls. She looked as if she had stepped out of a pre-Pulse magazine and into real life.

The man was much the same. His tousled, dirty blond hair was messy but perfect, a look many men strived for but failed to achieve. His black dress shirt was open at the neck, and the sleeves were rolled up, indicating toned muscle under golden skin. He was more watchful than the woman, his eyes taking in everything at once.

The bouncer didn't like them, and he sure as hell didn't trust them in the club, so he was going to turn them down. He smirked a little bit, thinking about how he was going to take this couple down a peg.

But then he saw their eyes. The couple couldn't have been much more than twenty, but their eyes were old. It showed that they had seen hell and that they had come back from it. The woman's eyes were dark chocolate while the man's were hard green, and both shared a look that said they were going to get into the club, even if they had to take the bouncer with them.

The couple stared him down and the bouncer found himself moving the velvet rope to allow them entrance. Again he was struck by the raw power they seemed to exude, almost without trying.

As he replaced the velvet rope, the bouncer wondered just what he had let into the club.

* * *

Benny was halfway though his beer when he spotted her. He wasn't sure how she had gotten in without him seeing her, but there she was, in the middle of the writhing mass of bodies. He stood and went to the railing to get a better look.

Sure enough, his eyes hadn't deceived him. There was a beautiful brunette in the middle of the dance floor. In a world where most people wore black, she wore a short red dress that served only to show off her caramel colored skin, and her curly hair moved along with her body exactly in time with the music. Later, Benny would admit that it was the dress that had first drawn him to her, but for now, he decided that he needed a closer look at this exotic creature.

He left his lookout on the balcony and made his way down to the dance floor, causing most of his security detail to follow. Benny kept a large security staff on hand at all times. After all, you couldn't be too careful in this city.

But when Benny got closer to the brunette, he noticed that she was already dancing with someone, a handsome young man with dirty blond hair and green eyes. As Benny watched, he was struck by how perfectly they seemed to match, almost as if they were made for each other. This caused Benny to scowl and decide that it was time to break up the party. He moved towards the couple and came between them, facing the brunette.

She was just as gorgeous as he had thought. The tight red dress left little to his imagination and her chocolate brown eyes and full pouty lips were perfect. Benny couldn't wait to get her into his bed.

"Hey," he asked her. "Wanna dance?" Benny didn't rely on charm or flirting to get wanted he wanted. Most women loved men with power and money in this little post apocalypse world, so Benny let his wealth do the talking.

He did notice that the brunette glanced over his shoulder, so he turned to look too, and her found the handsome young man glaring at him, his green eyes shooting daggers. Benny waved a hand and his bodyguards moved towards the buy, causing him to back off, although he was still glaring. Benny turned back to the girl, who giggled and batted her eyelashes.

"I like a man who takes charge." She said seductively. She moved closer to him and began to dance. Benny grinned and joined in.

* * *

An hour later, they sat at the bar after a particularly rigorous round of dancing. Benny had ordered himself a beer and an appletini for the brunette, whose name he still didn't know, not that it really mattered.

Benny had just finished telling her about how he had gotten his underground poker ring up and running when she excused herself to go to the bathroom. As she got off the barstool and passed Benny to go to the restrooms, Benny let his hand slip down to her ass, causing her to giggle again in mock indignation. As he watched her walk away on those long, long legs, he thought about how great tonight was going to be.

Ten minutes later, he was still waiting for her to get back when Donny, his younger brother and head of his security team, rushed up to him.

"Benny! Benny, they...they took it all!" Donny panted out, stooped slightly to catch his breath.

"'They', who's 'they'? And what did they take?" Benny asked, annoyed that his little brother was interrupting his night, even though alarm bells began to go off in the back of his head.

"I don't know who it is, Benny, but they took everything! The money, the guns, the drugs, everything!" Benny felt panic grip his heart as he pushed past his brother, ran up the stairs two at a time, and flung open the door to his office.

The door to his large safe stood open. The contents, money, guns, and drugs, were gone. Several of his guards lay on the floor, some out cold while others were still conscious but moaning and holding various body parts.

"Goddamnit!" Benny yelled. Then he noticed the open window. He ran to it, kicking several of his guards along the way. He stuck his head out and noticed that several of the security bars had been removed, allowing someone access. He looked down and saw the culprits.

The window of his office faced a small alley, and parked in that alley was the handsome young man from earlier on a lime green Ducati. And climbing on the back of the motorcycle, with a rather large bag slung over her shoulder, was the brunette. Benny watched as she hiked her dress a little higher, straddled the bike, and wrapped her arms around the young man, who took off as soon as she was ready.

Benny cursed again, loudly, and kicked his closest guard.

* * *

The bouncer had stopped admitting people long ago, and all the people who hadn't gotten in had gone home a long time ago. So the bouncer was making a circuit around the club, to make sure no one was trying to sneak in before he went in to handle crowd control.

As he came around to the back, he heard a slight noise from overhead, and he looked up to see the brunette from earlier shimming down a pole with a bag on her back. The bouncer knew without a doubt that she had robbed the club, so one of his hands went for his radio while other went for his gun.

From right behind him came the noise of someone clearing their throat, and the bouncer spun to see the woman's partner. The intense expression from earlier was gone, replaced by a smirk. The bouncer brought his gun up and aimed for the man, but the man just shook his head.

"Bad idea, buddy." In the blink of an eye, the man twisted past him, stripping him of his gun and radio. He tossed the radio away and ejected the magazine of the gun and the bullet out of the chamber, then threw all the pieces in different directions.

The bouncer stood, unsure of what to do. But the man solved that for him. The bouncer barely had time to register the man's fist coming towards his face, but the crunch as his nasal cartilage broke was a good indication of what had happened. The man then swept his feet out from under him, and the bouncer hit the concrete hard.

Completely unfazed, the man turned and climbed onto the motorcycle, then waited for the woman to get on.

Right before he blacked out, the man turned his head, and the bouncer could have sworn he saw a tattoo on the back of his neck. As the bouncer blacked out, he decided that it looked like remarkably like a barcode.

* * *

Benny was yelling orders at his few remaining functional guards to catch the thieves, but he knew it wouldn't do any good, and that they were long gone by now.

Suddenly, Benny laughed at himself and his stupidity. He had been so worried about being robbed, that he had forgotten that he didn't keep the majority of his money in that safe.

Grinning to himself, Benny knelt down by the fraying Persian carpet and pulled it back to reveal a floor safe. He inserted the key that only he had into the lock and was relieved to find it still locked. He unlocked it and pulled on the door. As he opened his safe, it took him a minute to realize what he was seeing.

The safe was empty, save for a single piece of paper. Benny unfolded the paper and read: _Gotcha, scumbag_.

Benny crumpled the paper in rage and threw it to the floor, then slumped in defeat. All his hard work was gone. All of it. All the money he had gotten from gambling, prostitution, and drugs was all gone. Benny moaned a little and asked himself: What kind of cruel world was this?

* * *

In Terminal City, Max climbed off the back of Alec's bike and shuddered.

"I swear, Alec, I feel so _gross_. I need to shower." She shuddered again. "That guy was a total jackass. He didn't even ask my name, although he had every intention of sleeping with me tonight. Ugh, I need a shower." Max rolled her shoulders and controlled her desire to punch something. She had been aching to punch the club owner over the way he treated her, but she thought depriving him of all his money was a pretty good payoff too. She turned to look at her partner in crime and found him grinning.

"What can I say, Maxie? You look good in that dress." He blatantly looked her up and down and raised his eyebrows.

"You're such a pig, Alec." She started to walk away. "And don't call me 'Maxie'!" she added, although it was more out of habit then meaning. He caught up to he and she tossed the backpack at him.

"Let's count the money. And next time, you can get felt up by the greasy slime ball while I take out the guards. Deal?" She said, looking him in the eye.

He grinned and said, "Whatever you say...Maxie."

* * *

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